While you likely know their names from the pages of magazines like FREDERIC, some of the interior design industry’s most notable photographers are also creating truly covetable fine art.  Not simply depicting the breadth of the space in front of them, their lens acts as a frame for a different type of reality, whether that’s macro spider webs or plays of light and shape devoid of the camera lens. Read on to discover how these stars of the editorial world are approaching their own personal projects with passion, integrity, and creativity.

Laura Resen

Drawn to stories told through location, Laura Resen’s work explores the idea of home in both the natural and man-made worlds, approaching her subject with curiosity and respect. “In both the commercial and the artwork, there’s space for the fantasy, there’s space for the romance,” says Resen. When it comes to balancing her artistic practice with her editorial work, Resen says, “I always try to bring my creative eye and vision to understand the soul of either the objects, the designers, or the architect.” In her series Classical Fields, Resen photographs spider webs with a macro lens, turning a biological creation into a striking collection of abstracted pattern and color—and with that, presenting a question of reality and perception to the viewer.

See more at lauraresenart.com.

Brian W. Ferry

“Photography kept me sane in the midst of a job that I did not really enjoy and could be quite intense,” says Brian W. Ferry of the motivation behind his transition from corporate lawyer to photographer. When discussing his recent book with artist Peter Shire, Studio / Peter Shire, Ferry says, “it felt like I could create almost a painting with a photograph. It was really about making images that were not necessarily just product shots of Peter’s studio and the things in it, but images that showed a perspective and told a story.” Approaching both his fine art and commercial work with an eye towards design gives all of Ferry’s work a deeply artistic point of view driven by instinct and reverence for the intricacies before him.

See more at @brianwferry on Instagram.

Francesco Lagnese

Despite not having classical training as a photographer—“I didn’t pick up a camera when I was five years old like some people,” he says—Francesco Lagnese has become one of the design industry’s most sought-after talents. He credits his commercial work with bringing his fine art practice to life: “It takes me to places where I would usually never go on my own and opens up other scenarios and possibilities and inspirations,” he explains. “One side nurtures the other, and vice versa.” Like Edward Weston and Georgia O’Keefe before him, Lagnese is particularly drawn to the hidden patterns of nature. “Everything in nature holds fascination—a leaf, the surface of water, the moon and clouds. The beauty of it draws you in.”

See more at francescolagnese.com.

François Dischinger

After a long and fruitful career as a fashion (and later interiors) photographer, François Dischinger developed a deep interest in experimental and unexpected forms of photography. His fine art practice has developed as an exploration of the photographic process. Similar to Man Ray with his famous Rayographs, Dischinger doesn’t use an actual camera to produce his art prints; instead, he uses a technique that involves placing objects on light sensitive paper and applying various filters. The result? A fluttering amalgamation of form and color—reminiscent of the staining methods developed by Helen Frankenthaler and later popularized by Morris Lewis—exploring the space between reality and fiction, a marriage of photography and painting. And he always leaves room for deviation: “Even when you think you’re controlling it, there’s always something that happens that’s a mistake,” Dischinger says. “But you have to accept them and—sometimes the mistakes actually work.”

See more at danzigergallery.com and francoisdischinger.com.

Celia Rogge

Having lived in New York since college, German-born Celia Rogge’s photography is deeply attuned with her surroundings, the duality of space and time, and the concept of home. “There a yin and yang to my work,” she says, “my orderly side—very Germanic, systematic, linear—and my spiritual side, which is reflected in my nature photography.” For that, she uses a daylight infrared camera. “It has nothing to do with clear lines and everything to do with how nature functions. It allows me to see the world in a fundamentally different way,” she explains. Her work is represented by Galerie Mourlot in New York.

See more at celiarogge.com.

James Nelson

Originally a fashion photographer, James Nelson redirected his gaze to interiors (the only thing available to shoot during the Covid lockdown), focusing on personal spaces that he could capture without the need for stylists or models. His first pandemic-era commission, for Parisian magazine Le Monde, was photographing flowers in collaboration with a local florist. After that, Nelson completely redirected his lens away from models and “fell in love with seeing how people live,” he says. Shooting only on film, his is work is more intentional and slower. Deeply concerned with his surroundings, Nelson takes his time with his subject—walking past a building multiple times before deciding to take a shot or observing a spot throughout the day to catch the best light. Whether for editorial or personal work, the results are the culmination of his studied and thoughtful attention. His interests may vary, but he is repeatedly drawn to how interiors reflect their inhabitants in their most lived-in permutation—faults and all.

See more at jamesnelson.info.